Lindsey Wilderness Area

Some 200 acres of woods and hiking trails run along the northeast side of Bonaparte, and more visiting vacationers are utilizing the area for long walks, mushroom hunting and geode searching.

Christy Creek, which runs through the Lindsay Wilderness Area before emptying into the Des Moines River on the east edge of Bonaparte, is an excellent geode hunting site, and groups of school children take annual class outings to search for the beautiful rocks.

Operated by the Van Buren County Conservation Board, the Lindsay Wilderness Area features second growth and some virgin white oak, red oak and shagbark hickory timber. There are also areas of scattered butternut, walnut, sugar maple and hornbeam. A wide variety of native shrubs such as blackberry, raspberry, hawthorne, hazel bush, redbud, and dogwood are scattered throughout.

The area was donated to the county by sisters Margorie M. Lindsay and Faye Miller Dawson in 1982.